Colossalcon East 2022 Event Report And Gallery Part 1
Colossalcon East returned to the Kalahari Resort & Convention Center in Pocono Manor, Penn., for their fifth annual convention on September 9-11 this year.
I have made it a point to mention the health and safety measures in place at conventions since the start of the pandemic, and will continue to do so here. Colossalcon East did not have a mask requirement, or any requirements for proof of vaccination and/or a negative COVID test. 2022 has been a mixed bag in terms of COVID related rules and guidelines at conventions, with some conventions maintaining mask and vaccination/negative test requirements, while others have done away with such policies (in particular the latter). Enforcement of said policies at conventions has been a mixed bag as well, to say the least. Anyways, with that out of the way, let’s get on to the fun stuff.
Colossalcon East is an anime-themed convention, which features the sort of programming and events you’d expect for a convention of its genre, along with more unique things you won’t see at many other events. There were dozens of panels held throughout the three-day event, which ran as late as 2 a.m. on the first two days of the convention. While a majority of these panels were related to anime in some way, there were some related to other fandoms including cosplay, pro wrestling, and video games. There were also a number of 18+ panels held during the later hours of the convention, featuring more mature content such as hentai.
While many other conventions feature numerous panels created to educate, and cover some serious social issues, there weren’t particularly many of these at Colossalcon East this year. While there were a few, most panels at the event ranged from the lighthearted, to the silly, to the downright bizarre. What other convention can you find a panel titled “90s Nostalgia & Other Nonsense presented by DrunkGeoffrey (18+)”? — a panel in which the host reportedly became so irritated by something that he walked out in the middle of it. That would probably be considered serious and troubling for a panel at any other convention, but if the thought of Drunk Geoffrey stumbling out of his own panel whilst mumbling profanities isn’t absolutely hilarious to you, well, Colossalcon East may not be for you.
Guests and activities
A number of industry guests were in attendance at the convention to meet and greet attendees including Steve Blum, Patricia Patts, Beau Billingslea, Brittney Karbowski, Griffin Burns, Kristen McGuire, and Melanie Kohn. Musical guests The Super Thrash Bros., Professor Shyguy, Kazha, and The Specialists rocked the place with concerts throughout the event.
Snow Phoenix once again provided a nice selection of arcade cabinets for the gaming room this year. A number of console tournaments were also held in the games area including Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Dragon Ball FighterZ, and Tekken 7.
Colossalcon East also featured a dealer’s room and artist alley where attendees could browse a variety of artwork and collectibles. While the dealer’s room appears to have grown a bit since the convention’s inception, the artist alley remained quite small for a convention of its size. I mentioned this on social media, and a couple of people indicated that they were able to rent a table very close to the convention dates, which means that its small size isn’t due to a lack of space or artists being denied a table.
In contrast, the market room was absolutely bustling with activity throughout the weekend. There, attendees were permitted to sell their own wares, with different types of items permitted on each day of the convention. When I stopped by on Sunday, they had run out of room in the event hall that was reserved for the market, and numerous attendees were sitting on the ground outside of the area selling their wares.
Other events and activities at Colossalcon East included an in-character cosplay contest, a glowstick dance, and a formal ball.
I believe that covers a good chunk of the activities happening at the “convention proper” during the course of the three-day event. However, perhaps the biggest draw of Colossalcon East is the venue itself, which most notably includes Kalahari’s vast indoor water park. Although not officially part of the convention, cosplay and photography at the water park is an extremely popular activity for attendees.
Unfortunately, some attendees ran into trouble with Kalahari staff throughout the event due to an apparent lack of communication. As I am right up against my word limit for this article, stay tuned for my next one, where I’ll focus more on the “unofficial” part of the event, which includes rules seemingly made up on the spot by Kalahari staff, one of which ended up leaving me in shambles. I wish I was exaggerating on that last point, but I assure you I am not.
Cosplayers in the gallery linked below include strawbunni.cos, piexv, alden_hough, yokai.pie, fabulizcosplay, im.renna, Myratheon Cosplay, peachxo.exe, Caram3llo Cosplay, kiyekuu, koikoinutt, commander.cosplay, zadrabug, peggasaurusrexx, puncakery_, squishiebishie, cosplay.ma, prllme, bunxkohh, vivi.sashimi, diji_mon, moone.shifter, tsrest814, postachild323, jake_cosplays, casaragicosplay, jaredkrinsky, mikaelamarecos, pokidokidoki, mikarizaki, kuribbon, ganba.ruby, mejiecosplay, thehaloxx, xoxprincessapril, filthyhippie00, and many more.
We now use SmugMug to present cosplay photo galleries and will post all photos there, with a link to each gallery in its own gallery article. This will allow us to give you higher resolution images to download — still for free.
To view the entire gallery, just click on the image below. If you are pictured in any of our galleries, feel free to download the images and use them non-commercially on social media, with appropriate credit.
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